B.C. Supreme Court awards over $2.8 million to Coquitlam crash victim left permanently disabled

A young man who was left permanently disabled after a 2021 car crash in Coquitlam has been awarded more than $2.8 million in damages by the B.C. Supreme Court.

On Aug. 7, Justice Kevin Loo ruled that defendant Nicholas Patrick Kong was solely responsible for the crash which left his friend, 21-year-old Dan Srenkel, with catastrophic injuries and an inability to work.

Kong was driving Srenkel home from a Port Moody party when he fell asleep at the wheel, causing the vehicle to lose control and flip onto its roof, trapping Srenkel inside. Firefighters had to cut the vehicle open to get him out, and he was rushed to the hospital with a fractured spine.

“This case demonstrates how quickly a young life can be upended,” Loo said in the ruling. “The plaintiff’s injuries have had a profound and permanent impact on his life.”

The court heard that the accident left Srenkel with permanent spinal and nerve damage, chronic pain, and psychological trauma. 

At trial, Srenkel testified that he used to be athletic with an active social life, but now has constant daily pain if he tries to sit, stand or walk for more than 15 minutes. He underwent two major back surgeries – the first to fuse vertebrae in Canada, the second in Slovakia after long waits at home – but the procedures could not restore him to health.

He said the only relief he finds is lying on his stomach, and even walking to a nearby convenience store exhausts him for the rest of the day.

Srenkel also suffers from headaches, tinnitus, depression and post-traumatic stress. He described anxiety when riding in cars, persistent insomnia, and the need to use cannabis and alcohol to manage both his physical pain and his mood.

Although he still makes music with friends, he can only manage one recording session a week, and only at considerable physical cost.

Srenkel said more than once during his testimony that life after the crash “sucks.”

Justice Loo observed Srenkel’s visible fatigue in court, noting how his energy faded as he testified, to the point that he needed to lie down during breaks.

The court heard from numerous medical experts, including neurosurgeons, a physiatrist and a psychiatrist. Their assessments agreed that Srenkel’s condition is permanent and that his prognosis for any meaningful recovery is poor. 

One specialist concluded that he has suffered permanent nerve damage and will likely face accelerated spinal degeneration. Another stated that he is “unemployable in any capacity” because of his injuries. Psychiatric experts diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder, both of which are expected to persist.

The defence did not contest liability but argued that the extent of Srenkel’s disability, and his loss of future earnings, should be viewed with caution.

Defence experts suggested that further surgeries or treatments could improve his condition and that reducing his cannabis use might help his cognition. 

They also pointed to Srenkel’s lack of clear direction before the accident, noting that he had dropped out of two post-secondary programs and worked sporadically. At most, they said, he might have earned modest wages with only a high school diploma.

Defence lawyers further argued that videos Srenkel made as a musician after the accident showed him more active than he claimed, and they urged the court to draw an adverse inference from his failure to disclose all of them during the lawsuit.

Justice Loo rejected these submissions. He found no evidence that further treatment would restore Srenkel to competitive employability and concluded that the possibility of meaningful recovery was not “real and substantial.”

He also declined to draw any adverse inference from the undisclosed music videos, noting they did not contradict his evidence.

The judge awarded $300,000 in non-pecuniary damages for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life, noting that Srenkel’s youth at the time of the accident made the impact especially devastating.

Past lost income was calculated at just under $80,000, while his future lost earning capacity was pegged at more than $2.1 million, based on economic evidence showing he might otherwise have pursued work in a trade.

The court also awarded nearly $140,000 for loss of housekeeping capacity, over $118,000 for future care such as rehabilitation and psychological support, and just over $50,000 to compensate his parents and brother for the extensive caregiving they provided after the crash.

The only significant deduction was the disallowance of his claim for cannabis costs, which the judge ruled lacked medical justification.